Hans v. Safe Deposit & Trust Co. of Baltimore

• Decision Date: 04 April 1940
• Docket Number: 40.
• Citation: 12 A.2d 208,178 Md. 52
• Parties: HANS v. SAFE DEPOSIT & TRUST CO. OF BALTIMORE,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

12 A.2d 208

178 Md. 52

HANS v. SAFE DEPOSIT & TRUST CO. OF BALTIMORE,

No. 40.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

April 4, 1940

Appeal from Circuit Court No. 2 of Baltimore City; Rowland K. Adams Judge.

Suit by Marguerite S. Hans, also known as Catherine Marguerite Hans against the Safe Deposit & Trust Company of Baltimore trustee, etc., to annul a deed of trust. From a decree sustaining the deed of trust and dismissing the bill of complaint, the plaintiff appeals. The plaintiff having been divorced from her first husband and having remarried, appeal was taken in the name of Marguerite S. Roche.

Affirmed.

R. Contee Rose and Walter H. Buck, both of Baltimore, for appellant.

Charles McH. Howard, of Baltimore, for appellee.

Argued before BOND, C.J., and OFFUTT, PARKE, SLOAN, MITCHELL, JOHNSON, and DELAPLAINE, JJ.

PARKE Judge.

On the assigned grounds of duress in its making and of the inalienability and the non-transmissibility of its subject matter, a suit was begun by Marguerite S. Hans to have annulled a deed of trust which was made on May 13, 1916, by her and her then husband to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore as trustee. The appeal is from the decree of the Chancellor sustaining the deed of trust and dismissing the bill of complaint.

The testimony has been carefully considered and weighed in connection with the circumstances attendant upon the execution of the deed of trust, with the inferences to be drawn from the relation of the parties, and with the nature of the provisions of the deed of trust, and the Court is of the opinion that duress is not established. On the second ground taken, the following pertinent facts should be stated.

A certain Henry S. Shryock died testate on December 6, 1882. His large residuary estate of realty and personalty was devised and bequeathed to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore, trustee, for the use and benefit of his widow and sister and his children, and their issue, during the lives of the said widow and sister, and the life of the survivor of them, and from and after the death of the said widow and the last surviving child the whole of the rest and residue of said trust estate to be divided equally among all of the testator's grandchildren then living, together with the lawful issue of any dead grandchild, the grandchildren living to take per capita and the issue of any dead grandchild to take per stirpes.

The trustee appointed by the will accepted the trust and continued its administration until the death on December 14, 1927, of the last survivor of the testator's widow and children. Before the happening of this death, Marguerite S. Hans, a grandchild of the testator, and her then husband, Evan D. Hans, executed on May 13, 1916, a deed of trust to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company as trustee. The recital of the deed set forth the terms of the residuary clause of the will and codicil of her grandfather, which created the trust, and declared that 'the said Marguerite S. Hans is desirous of settling all of her property interest and estate to which she is now or may hereafter become entitled in the manner as in said will and codicil set forth and the said Evan D. Hans her husband is desirous of joining in these presents to more fully and perfectly carry out such settlement as aforesaid and the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore party of the second part at the request of the parties of the first part' (the grantors) 'and for the consideration hereinafter expressed has agreed to be trustee under this deed and settlement.'

After stating that the deed is 'in consideration of the premises and the sum of one dollar in hand paid and other good and valuable considerations the parties of the first part thereto moving', the grant and assignment proceeds in these words:

'The said parties of the first part, Marguerite S. Hans and Evan D. Hans, her husband, do hereby bargain sell assign and convey unto the said Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore its successors and assigns all and every property right title interest estate claim and demand of them the said parties of the first part or either of them in unto or out of the same and every part thereof to which she the said Marguerite S. Hans is or may be entitled to any claim or demand under the provisions of said last will and testament and codicil thereto.

'To have and to hold all said property and premises hereby intended to be granted and assigned and conveyed or expressed so to be unto the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore its successors and assigns according to the nature and quality of the said property and premises upon the trusts and with and subject to the purposes authorities and provisions hereinafter expressed and declared.'

The trusts declared are, in summary, for the sole and separate use and benefit of Marguerite S. Hans for life and then to convey, assign and pay over the trust estate unto such person or persons as she shall by last will appoint; and, in default of such appointment or as far as the appointment shall not extend, in trust for all of the children, if any, of the said Marguerite, their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, in equal shares, the child, children or descendants of any deceased child of the said Marguerite to take the share to which its parent if living would have been entitled, and if there be only one child to him or her executors, his or her executors, administrators and assigns. If there shall be no child, children or descendants of the said Marguerite, then, so much of the said trust estate as shall be realty shall go to and devolve upon and become the property of the person or persons who would take under the laws of the State of Maryland in relation to the descent of real estate on the death of the said Marguerite as if she had died seized and possessed thereof intestate and without her having married; and so much of said trust estate as shall be personal property shall go to and become the property of the person or persons who, under the Statute of Maryland for the distribution of personal estate of intestates, would, on the death of the said Marguerite intestate, become entitled thereto, if she had died possessed of the estate without having been married.

Ample powers were conferred upon the trustee for the administration of the trust, subject to the provision that the power of sale and conveyance of any real estate or chattel real of the trust shall not be exercised without the prior consent in writing of the said Marguerite. The duty was particularly imposed upon the trustee to require it to enforce the transfer and delivery to it for the purposes of the trust all the real and personal property to which the said Marguerite 'shall or may become entitled upon the happening of the event mentioned in the said last will and testament of her grandfather Henry S. Shryock or otherwise howsoever and hereby granted, conveyed or assigned or intended so to be when and so soon as said events shall occur.'

In further confirmation of the clear and unmistakable intention of the grantors to grant, transfer and assign every estate interest or right, whether vested, contingent, present or future, of Marguerite S. Hans under the will of her grandfather, the grant concludes with this stipulation: 'And the said Marguerite S. Hans and Evan D. Hans, her husband, do hereby covenant and agree with the trustee of these presents that they will execute any deed deeds or other instruments of writing which may be required to more fully vest in and assure to the trustee under these presents all such estates and properties in which the said Marguerite S. Hans now has a reversionary interest and which are intended to be conveyed and assigned by these presents for when and as soon as she shall become entitled to the same under the terms of the last will and testament and codicil of Henry Shryock aforesaid.'

This deed of trust was duly delivered and recorded, but it was not until the death of the last surviving life tenant on December 14, 1927, that the duties of the trustee became active. On December 31, 1927, the Safe Deposit and Trust Company in its several capacities as trustee under the will of Henry S. Shryock, deceased, and as trustee under the deed of trust of the said Marguerite S. Hans (sometimes called Catherine Marguerite Hans) and husband, and as trustee of other beneficiaries under similar but distinct deeds of trusts, instituted equity proceedings against the beneficiaries and other parties claiming under them. Among the defendants are the said Marguerite S. Hans and Evan Donovan Hans, her husband.

At the death on December 14, 1927, of the last survivor of the widow and children of the testator, there were nineteen grandchildren then living, and no dead grandchild leaving issue, so there were nineteen equal shares to be divided and distributed. The defendant, Marguerite S. Hans, or her grantee under the deed of trust was entitled to one of these shares. The bill of complaint sets out facts which show that the distribution of the trust estate among the parties entitled had become so complicated by the acts of the beneficiaries with reference to their several shares of the trust estate, that the trustee desired the aid and assistance of a court of equity in making the final distribution and division.

The bill of complaint concluded with the prayer for general relief and for the particular relief that the Court assume jurisdiction of the trust and determine and decree whether distribution of the trust property should be made among the parties entitled, and who are the parties now entitled to receive the same, and in what proportions; and that such division and distribution may be made under the supervision and direction...